Feb-2025

Role of carbon-14 testing in advancing renewable fuels

Carbon-14 analysis offers actionable insights that drive regulatory compliance, enhance operational efficiency, and bolster economic benefits in the fuels industry.

Haley Gershon Beta Analytic
Gary Lee Parkland Refining

Article Summary

In the dynamic landscape of renewable energy, carbon-14 analysis has emerged as a pivotal tool for verifying the biogenic content of biofuels and fuel gases. This methodology, central to the operations of international fuel distributor Parkland Refining, is helping the refinery lower its environmental impact. Parkland integrates renewable fuel sourcing, manufacturing, blending, carbon trading, and solar power into its strategies while promoting ultra-fast EV charging as part of its comprehensive sustainability goals.

This article focuses on the significance of carbon-14 analysis in improving internal refinery processes, ensuring regulatory compliance, boosting performance in the fuels industry, and overall providing a reliable means to verify the biogenic carbon content of biofuel blends and fuel gases.

Understanding the importance of biogenic testing
Biogenic testing through ASTM D6866 carbon-14 analysis is reshaping the way the fuels industry assesses renewable content (Beta Analytic, 2024). Carbon-14 analysis is used to determine the biomass-based (or biogenic content) vs fossil fraction of biofuels and other products. Since the carbon-14 isotope is only present in living or recently expired material, carbon-14 testing via accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) is the most effective method to determine the amount of biogenic carbon vs petroleum-derived carbon in biofuel blends (Beta Analytic, 2024).

According to the ASTM D6866-24 analytical standard, ‘biogenic’ is defined as containing carbon (both organic and inorganic) from renewable origins, such as agricultural, plant, animal, fungi, microorganisms, macro-organisms, marine, or forestry materials (ASTM, 2025).

This methodology is able to indicate the percentage of biogenic carbon in a batch of gasoline, diesel, or sustainable aviation fuel, for example. By precisely determining the proportion of biogenic content, carbon-14 analysis supports industries in meeting regulatory requirements and fostering trust among regulators and consumers. For Parkland Refining, this verification is key to confidently marketing renewable fuels while ensuring compliance with low-carbon fuel standards (LCFS). Accurate biogenic testing also positions companies to align their products with the growing global demand for sustainability.

Enhancing refinery processes and performance
The application of carbon-14 analysis goes beyond compliance – it also plays a crucial role in optimising refinery operations to produce the most renewable fuel possible. Understanding how renewable feedstocks contribute to fuel yields is vital, and carbon-14 testing removes ambiguities often associated with traditional mass balance methods. Carbon-14 testing enables refineries to pinpoint the exact contribution of renewable materials, eliminating uncertainties and helping operators refine their processes more effectively and maximise renewable fuel production.

For example, using the carbon-14 method via AMS to measure biogenic content of barrels of renewable inputs such as canola oil, tallow, or used cooking oil allows refineries to identify the exact contribution of renewable materials to their outputs. This ensures that operational adjustments can be data-driven, improving productivity and reducing waste.

Navigating regulatory drivers
As the regulatory framework surrounding renewable fuels becomes more stringent, the need for biogenic testing is only expected to grow. In Canada, both the federal Clean Fuel Regulations (CFR) programme and British Columbia’s LCFS mandate ASTM D6866 carbon-14 testing requirements under Method B (AMS) for biogenic analysis (Gov. of Canada, 2022) (Gov. of Canada, 2023), ensuring that producers can substantiate their renewable fuel credits. Under these regulations, producers must regularly measure and report the biogenic content of their fuels and co-processed products to qualify for credits.

Through the CFR, the Government of Canada aims to reduce pollution by 2030 by decreasing the carbon intensity (CI) of gasoline and diesel used in the country. The Canadian Ministry of Environment and Climate Change published a Quantification Method (QM) for co-processing in refineries under the CFR. The QM requires ASTM D6866 testing to measure the biogenic content of the co-processed feedstocks used and the low-CI fuels produced in registered projects (Gov. of Canada, 2022). Under the CFR, refineries like Parkland’s have to submit monthly samples for carbon-14 testing on finished products and intermediates, for example, as part of credit accounting.

Under this programme, the government offers incentives for the development and adoption of clean fuels, technologies, and processes. For example, it establishes a credits market wherein producers and importers of gasoline and diesel must create or buy credits to comply with the reduction requirements. Extra credits can be sold or used in later years. Projects are required to measure the biogenic content of samples from each fuel, product, and hydrocarbon co-product via ASTM D6866 testing (Gov. of Canada, 2022). The biogenic content and CI of the co-processed low-CI fuel, co-processed low-CI product, and co-product produced for each fuel pathway must be determined.

Furthermore, British Columbia’s LCFS programme proposed an updated protocol in October 2023, adding ASTM D6866 testing for all co-processed fuels and co-products. Emissions reductions and corresponding credits are quantified based on the amount of co-processed low-CI fuels produced and their reduced lifecycle CI, using the biogenic content results obtained through ASTM D6866 testing (Gov. of Canada, 2023).

Technological precision: Comparing methodologies
Carbon-14 analysis is a well-established method that has been in use by many industries for several decades. Under ASTM D6866 Method B, carbon-14 measurements performed by commercial third-party laboratories are robust with accurate and precise results regarding the percentage of biogenic content.
Carbon-14 measurements under ASTM D6866 Method B represent a direct test method, whereas calculation-based approaches such as mass balance make claims based on material inputs in production (ISCC, 2024). For example, carbon-14 testing can provide verifiable data indicating that 5%, for example, is derived from renewable fuel (biogenic content), while the remaining portion is from other interactions in the refinery.

Calculation-based results lead producers to assume that all their biomass inputs end up in their facilities’ outputs, despite the fact that the input of renewable feedstocks will often have different reactivity than their fossil counterparts and will not necessarily produce the same quantity of outputs. By basing calculations solely on production inputs rather than outputs, these methods can systematically over-report the renewable share of fuels.